In the seventies of the last century, Nico Bakker was one of many who realized that the cycle part of motorcycles was what had to evolve in order to go fast. The concept of an increasingly powerful engine and better tires compromised what was available in terms of cycle parts at that time.
Despite the continuous growth in power, it was no longer all about the engine because the tracks were also changing, with more and more permanent circuits with very different characteristics. Thus Bakker, Cobas, Tamburini, Giró and a long etcetera, began with greater or lesser success to carry out different creations.
The fact is that Bakker continued working and without achieving the popularity of those mentioned above, he did manage to carve out a niche for himself. So much so that at the end of the nineties their motorcycles were tremendously fast in the categories reserved for twin-cylinder motorcycles, the well-known BOT, Battle of Twins.
Bakker even launched a Barracuda for the street
One of those bikes was the Barracuda, which Bakker prepared for 1999 and which won that year. Such was the success that they even marketed a street version. But the model that is for sale was created to compete, and it is loaded to the brim. The engine comes from a Suzuki TL1000S/R, logically twin cylinder. Its power was located at 130 HP, a quite reasonable figure.
In addition to building the entire chassis, which is tubular, and the aluminum swingarm, the rest of the chassis part was not neglected in any way because it had Öhlins suspensions and Galesspeed wheels, in addition to other high-level elements such as the exhaust that was signed by Akrapovic. As for weight, 187 kg was what it showed on the scale.
If you want to have a little piece of Nico Bakker’s history there is a racing Barracuda for sale in France. Its price, taking into account how strange and unique it is, is not excessively expensive, as it sells for 8,500 euros.
It must also be taken into account that the procedures to bring it home would have nothing to do with motorcycles that come from the United States or Japan.
